Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Polar Bears are dying off

No, they're not.
TB — (archived)

Almost every article on this cites only the 1200 to 1000 decline of the Western Hudson Bay population, and ignores the other ones. Of nineteen subpopulations across the Arctic, seven are stable or increasing, five are listed as "declining," and the rest have insufficient data, particularly those in Russian areas.

There is valid reason for concern, but it's not the imminent extinction disaster you're hearing about in so many places.

The main influence on polar bear population is not climate, but other human activities, and always has been. An average of 800 polar bears a year have been removed from the population over the past five years, "removed" being the term used by the scientists for any human-caused mortality, including sport and subsistence hunting, self-defense, or accidents. This includes 45 a year from the Western Hudson Bay population, and probable extensive overharvesting in Russian areas.

Some of the scientists seem to have gone into spasm trying to synchronize concern for polar bear survival with the politically-correct imperative of allowing native Arctic people to continue to kill bears.

Latest report here. This report was supposed to be out over a year ago.

BTW, it was 70 degrees in New York on Jan. 14th of 1932. There were many other warm days that month. But by focusing on this one day's record, the story sounds scarier.

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